The Stone of Ulrij
by Takeshidude
Summary: When miners unearth a mysterious diamond, all who possess it fall prey to an unknown evil. Link must clear his name after he gets entangled in the stone's "curse". Set 7 years after Spirit Tracks.
1. Prolouge

The mine was a dark, depressing, dangerous, and bitterly cold place to work. No one liked mining, but it payed well. The Mountains extended far past what was considered the Snow Realm, out into the Wilderness, and in these rugged, stoney peaks explorers had found little of interest, until they chanced on a single mountain, which held an ocean's worth of jewels. On this particular uncharacteristic day, Sven, the senior miner, and Joseph, who was on his fourth day in the mountains, were digging a shaft farther into the bowels of stone.

_*CRACK_*

_*CRACK_*

_*CRACK_*

*_CRUNCH*_

"Oi! I hit another pocket here." Joseph called out to Sven. Sometimes these pockets exposed more jewels, or sometimes they revealed abysmal crevices waiting to suck any unsuspecting victim to the core of the earth.

"I'm comin'" Sven brought his pickaxe over to the hole Joseph had just made. "Let's open it up. I hope there's plenty in there, the last few hauls have been weak." The miners began their work on clearing the stone. Inside was a small, dark chamber, ten feet across, and almost twice as long.

"Lemme get a torch." Sven stepped outside and grabbed a mining torch. Striding back into the chamber, he rammed it into the wall and light it. Joseph was watching the far end of the chamber, which he could barely make out, and saw a large marble door carved with a winged crest.

"Looks like a door." Joseph muttered uneasily.

"Fantastic!" Sven appeared as if someone had just told him he had the rest of the week off. "Worried are you?" He asked Joseph, "Look, who'd put a door in the middle of a mountain if there was nothin' behind it?"

"I'm not worried about what's in there, I'm worried about who put it there." Joseph disliked surprises as much as a cat dislikes water.

"Wonder how you open it." Sven was oblivious to Joseph's dilemma.

"Could be a force gem."

"Superstitious are you?" Sven asked in a mocking tone. "As if you would need some _magical _trinket for anything. Start looking for some lever or other. I'm getting another torch." Joseph was irritated at Sven's dismissal of the topic. He pulled out a small, golden triangle and pressed it against a similarly sized triangle carved on the door. With a pulsing glow, the door slid upward without a sound.

"How in the name of sanity did you do that?" Sven asked incredulously when he returned. Joseph decided not to answer, and instead took the torch from Sven, marched through the door, and planted the torch in the cave wall. Sven went to light the torch, grumbling about disrespectful youth, and stopped. There was a crunching sound, a very unpleasant crunching sound. Lighting the torch he and Joseph looked down at the floor.

It was covered in bones.

Sven looked up at Joseph, who was clearly disturbed at this discovery, but trying very hard not to look like a child frightened by a large, pointy stick. Sven was unsettled, but not perturbed. Looking around his gaze fell on a diamond the size of a large apple embedded in the wall opposite the door.

"Well, that's worth all the moldy biscuits we've got back at camp!" Sven excitedly pulled the diamond out of the wall. A circle was etched in the diamond, and inside it was etched an oval, giving the look of an eye.

"You've got your treasure, can we please go now?" Joseph sounded panicked, his resolve to not cower in a corner and weep was quickly deserting him.

"Alright then, we can head back to camp, the shift's almost over anyway." Sven and Joseph left the cave, Joseph fleeing for the safety of open air. Neither man noticed the murky liquid now dripping out of the diamond's former resting place, nor the fact that the liquid was dripping upward.


	2. A peculiar stone

Link had just returned from a lengthy train ride into the Fire Realm to hear stories of the Goron race about Old Hyrule. Link was fascinated with the old kingdom, and had spent most of the past five years traveling around and trying to find records of it. He had just pulled into the Aboda Village station, and decided to have a meal at the local tavern. Upon entering, Link went up to the counter, ordered a cucco sandwich, and found a table.

"This is quite a fine diamond. Why would you be selling it for such a common price?" Link heard a nearby man ask.

"I just want the darn thing off my hands, that's why." A deeper voice responded.

"And why are you so eager to be rid of this jewel? Could someone else be looking for it?" The older man sounded accusing, but chose his words so he could not be seen as confrontational.

"I'm not a thief, if that's what you're getting at!" At this, Link turned around. He saw two men sitting at the table behind him; one was well dressed, thin, but strong-looking. The other, the one with deep voice, was substantially larger, and looked like a merchant.

"I didn't say you were a thief." The potential buyer said calmly, "But if you are not, then what is the reason for the low price?"

"This jewel has something off about it, and it shakes me to my core, it does." The merchant responded. The older man raised an eyebrow. "The men who uncovered it both met an untimely demise."

"Oh, well do go on. I love a good ghost story." The older man leaned forward expectantly, but nothing in his manner could be said to be antagonistic.

"This isn't just some 'ghost story', the diamond was uncovered in the mountain range north of the snow realm about a month back. The miner who located the gem was found dead in his bunk the next morning, with his eyes wide open. But the fellow who actually pried the thing out of the stone didn't get off so easy. For the next three days he grew more erratic, confused, and generally unstable. The foreman kicked him off the mining crew, and he screamed abuse at the foreman, then ran off into the mountains. They found him four days later at the bottom of a frozen pool."

"Where did you get the diamond?" The older one asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"I bought it from the auction at Lord Feldunost's estate sale. He didn't have an heir, so they auctioned off his personal collection." The merchant explained.

"He was the one with a castle in the Ocean realm, wasn't he? I hadn't realized he died. I suppose it was inevitable; he had more than a few decades under his belt."

"That's what I thought, but after hearing about the other deaths, I looked into Feldunost's. Everyone just assumes he died of old age, but he didn't. He rode off in his personal skiff with a few attendants to see the sunrise, but never came back. His castle staff found some charred driftwood and a tattered flag the next day. The flag was Feldunost's personal crest." The merchant was getting more excited about his story; Link could see sweat dripping off the man's head.

"Hm. All of this can be explained logically. Lord Feldunost _was _old, and mining isn't a safe job, even in established areas." The older man was not convinced by the merchna'ts story.

"Look! I don't care if you pay me anything, just take that jewel away from me!" The merchant shot up out of his chair, sending it careening into the bar, and ran for the door. Link moved to his table.

"What was that about?" Link inquired of the current owner of the diamond.

"He got worked up over his own story. I'd assume he had a bit too much to drink last night when he heard it around a campfire with a dozen other less-than-sober merchants. I'm Quentin." The man held out his hand.

"Link. Nice to meet you. You run the manor just north of here, don't you?" Link felt like he had seen the man before.

"That I do. I believe you pass by every so often on a train."

"That's right. I overhead the merchant's story, and its quite a tale; may I see the etching on the jewel?" The merchant's description of the design reminded Link of something, but he couldn't place it. Quentin handed Link the diamond. The design definitely looked like something Link had seen before, but he still couldn't remember.

"Do you recognize it?" Quentin asked.

"Yes, but I'm not sure why. I have a friend who may know; if I find out I'll stop by your manor."

"I would be most appreciative. On that note, I must take my leave. I hope to see you again, Link." Quentin left, and Link's food finally arrived. He ate slowly, his mind still on the diamond. He knew he had seen the design before. Maybe Zelda would know; she always loved history, and knew most everything of interest since Hyrule had been established. His mind decided, Link returned to his train to go see Zelda.


End file.
